The New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year “A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits.”—The Washington Post The dazzling reader-favorite about the choices that go into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The … into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The Comfort Book.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
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Being someone who struggles with depression this was a very good book to read. It opens your eyes to enjoying the life you have and not living focused on your rejects. Enjoyed the read.
Wow. Worth the hype.
I thought this book was unique and interesting. The story was good, but there were so many F-bombs in it that I can’t say I loved it.
I would never let my teen read it and I probably wouldn’t recommend it to my friends.
If foul language isn’t a problem for you then you will probably like this book.
At heart this is a story of personal discovery and redemption. It’s a wholesome moral tale that made me feel good.
But the remarkable thing is that the book is based on a premise that is either literally fantastic or a scientific possibility. My jury’s out. Haig’s amazing ability to tie up loose ends and ‘say what?!’ moments is worth an extra star.
I really enjoyed this book. It made me really think about my own life and choices. It made me feel good and look at things in a different way.
Last night, I finally read one of the most popular books from this past spring. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, published through Cannongate Books.
Matt Haig is a popular British author. In England, it seemed impossible to walk into any store without seeing one of his books on the shelves. Some of his books you might recognize are Reasons to Stay Alive, A Boy Called Christmas, and How to Stop Time.
The Midnight Library is an adult magical realism book at only about 288 pages, so it should’ve been a quick read if I hadn’t been so busy! In this book, Nora Seed seems to have the worst life and her depression doesn’t help. She decides suicide may be the only answer. But floating between life and death and only existing at midnight, is a library monitored by her old school librarian, where each book contains a life she could have had if she made a different choice. A life is full of infinite choices with infinite outcomes, so Nora can explore an infinite number of books and lives, until she finds one worth living.
Content warning: suicide, some sexual references and content, drugs and alcohol references, grief and trauma
Overall, I’d have to give this book three stars.
I liked the positive message that every life is worth living (which I don’t think is a spoiler because obviously that’s where it would lead). I also love the idea of parallel universes and the foreshadowing of Nora working at String Theory. It’s always interesting to see where our different choices lead us and affect other lives, even the small decisions.
However, the beginning of the book was a little slow and very depressing. In fact, a lot of the book is sad with little comic relief, so if you want to read it, prepare for that. I’m also confused how some of the switching into lives works: where does the other Nora go when she takes over their life? That question kind of haunts me, and makes me a bit afraid some other me will just make me disappear. I also do love the hopeful ending, yet I found some if the wrap-up a bit too neat. There needed to be some positivity, but for some of the negative things that happened to be chalked up to miscommunication twists me a bit the wrong way.
I love the premise of this story! What if you could go back to every regret and try living that life? Nora is done with the world. She truly feels she has nothing to live for and decides she’s done. How did she get to this point? As she thinks back, she regrets so many choices she has made. Choices about love, friends, family, and her career. When it all seems done and over, Nora finds herself in the Midnight Library. It’s a pace in between life and death and she has been given a magical opportunity. What would her life look like if different choices were made? Nora is going through her biggest regrets and trying out those lives that never happened. She filters through life after life to see that maybe her choices should not be considered regrets, maybe these were the right choices all along. This story leaves you thinking about choices and how these choices, regrets or not, impact our life! Wonderful story!!!
Really makes you think about your life.
Had a couple people recommend this book and decided to give it a shot. It is a well-written book with a positive message for living life, though I did feel it got a tad preachy at the end. The plot is not necessarily a forward-moving one but sets a nice framework for the story. Nora Seed is a mid-30s, single woman who is so filled with regrets and bearing the weight of disappointment in her life that she just can’t get herself together and after a series of catastrophic events she decides to end her life. Somewhere between life and death, she ends up in the Midnight Library where she gets the chance to look at her life through different lenses — and different lives! — to see firsthand where she could end up.
I love the premise of this story. We all have regrets and think to ourselves, “If I had just done X instead of Y.” It’s intriguing to see how Haig handles this in this story. At times it is uncomfortably realistic (very hard to do!), while at others it gets a little predictable. Still, I found myself absorbed in the story and enjoyed it all the way through — until about the last 10-15 pages when I thought it got a bit preachy. I would have preferred something more along the lines of what Richard Bach did with “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” or “Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah,” but to put Haig in that same conversation with those two books that I love is, at least to me, pretty high praise anyway.
I wouldn’t call this a summer beach read, more like a fireplace read, but it was a very good read and if you’re looking for a thoughtful book, this is a solid choice.
This inspirational book was a great reminder about the infinite Options we have in I lives and the importance of living life to the fullest. It is now one of my very favorite books. I recommend it very highly.
The Midnight Library was an interesting escape into the mind. Matt Haig used mind-bending philosophy to illustrate a limbo where the possibilities were only limited by your imagination and regrets.
Nora Seed is devastated by her doubts and the life she has chosen. The death of her cat sends her on a downward spiral. At the Midnight Library, she is greeted by a significant person from her life and challenged to live lives that she has regretted passing up. Will it make her happier to see the lives she could have led? Will Nora settle on a life that is better than any other possibility?
I enjoyed the philosophical realizations woven into seemingly innocuous conversations. The concept was intriguing, and the process was understandable. Some of the references were uniquely British, which may be off-putting for some readers. I found that it gave the story a better sense of place, though. I challenge readers to determine the reason that Nora is compared to a library card.
I recommend the book for ages thirteen and older, due to some language and reference to sex.Matt Haig
Adored The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I devoured it on my Kindle but will buy a print copy to add to my shelves.
Between life and death there is a library, the shelves go on forever and each new book provides a chance to try a different life…if you could change your life would you?
Still thinking about that book of regrets long after I finished the novel.
This book was just not my cup of tea. It was a bit on the unusual side and I simply could not connect with the characters.
An entertaining and thought provoking read.
Occasionally I’ll wander out of the thriller genre and I’m glad I did here. I found The Midnight Library to be a fun read that naturally turns the story towards the reader as you follow the choices and consequences of Matt Haig’s protagonist. The writing is good and the story is thought-provoking, entertaining and inspirational at the same time.
This is one of my favourite books that I have read this year! It’s full of surprises, has interesting characters and thought provoking. Try it, enjoy a good read.
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Mixed feelings. She is fed up with the choices she has made with her life and is depressed enough to want to die. She attempts it and ends up in The Midnight Library where her childhood librarian is there with her chess board. The room is eerily weird but she looks at her Book of Regrets and thinks how her life could have been different. Mrs Elm leads Nora to book choices where she can re live her life. She experiences her life in different parallel universes similar to time travel. She tries Olympic swimming, Glacial exploration, rock star status, life with her ex fiancée as married, etc. she doesn’t feel right in any lives and keeps ending up in the library. Good ending but not one of my favorite reads.
I’ve always loved libraries and librarians…. and Mrs. Elm is the personification of why I’ve always felt this way. I immediately understood Nora Seed, infuriating, heartbreaking and, in the end, facing life as a wiser, more centered human being. I totally loved this vision of life and appreciate the reminder that we all need to be kinder to ourselves and those in our lives.
This book is simply beautiful, interesting, emotional, and it is very hard to put down.
It is a real page turner because I wanted to find out what decision the main character will actually makes in the end after seeing so many version of lives she can make.
I love the parallel universe concept that takes library as a media which can lead you to see various life regarding your decision no matter how big or small it is.
I really like the main character because she grows and change from thinking that her life is a failure and wondering with the what ifs that she convince herself that there was no way out of her misery other than death into a life with love, hope and full of potential because she finally let go of those regrets and actually try to live.
The Midnight Library features, but is not limited to, the following themes:
Fiction
Depression
Suicide
Regrets
Hopes and dreams
Multiverse
Life and death
My overall rating for The Midnight Library is…
5 Stars!
What a stunning book! The Midnight Library is simple but the meaning behind the entire story is poetic and real. The exploration of suicide, regrets and life is depicted in way that is deep and raw; the author teaching us that life is painful and full of uncertainties, but that is the beauty of life. This book spoke to me on a level hidden deep inside of me and I feel so LIGHT after completing it. Here’s to burning my book of regrets to dust.
An easy to read, somewhat predictable book, that seemed more like a self help guide with different platitudes throughout as the protagonist came to different, yet very obvious realizations presented by the author as each scenario played itself out